Deal Firmly With Case Of Fbi Chief

January 21, 1993|The Morning Call

As he copes with problems left to him by the departing Bush administration, President Clinton may be afraid to open closet doors or look into desk drawers around the executive offices. The scathing report released this week by the Justice Department about what amounts to petty theft by FBI Director William S. Sessions is a problem he didn't need.

But now that it's been dumped in his lap, he should use the momentum and good will of

the start of his presidency to deal firmly with Mr. Sessions -- in other words, to replace him.

Mr. Sessions is in the middle of a 10-year term, and doing so will require a bit of finesse. After all, Mr. Clinton is standing behind his nomination of Zoe Baird to become attorney general, the FBI director's boss, even though she has admitted to breaking immigration and tax laws in hiring illegal immigrants as domestic help. But there is good reason to treat Mr. Sessions's case separately.

The Justice Department says Mr. Sessions has used government aircraft for personal travel, and has "a clear pattern" of using his office for personal gain. Furthermore, he's been accused of dodging taxes on his use of an official limousine and driver, and with trying to foil the entire investigation.

There is a troubling aspect to the case. First, release of the Justice Department report was timed to do former President Bush no harm. Second, it arises from a background of bad relations among the Department, the FBI and the CIA. Their rancor reached a peak during debate last year over the so-called Iraqgate case, with each blaming the others with incompetence and a lack of vigilance. It's going to be Mr. Clinton's task to weigh it all out, and the FBI director deserves his day in court. But the impression outside Washington that the Sessions report exposes one more government official on the take ought to count for something. That's so especially with Bill Clinton, who's made change a major theme of his effort to get where he is, and who signed a code of ethics as his first official act.